World Challenge Round Nine from Road Atlanta Airs Tuesday

TOPEKA, Kan. October 21, 2009: The SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Toyo Tires Road Atlanta Grand Prix Presented by Dish Network, Round Nine of the 2009 season, will air Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 2 p.m. (EDT) on SPEED.

The program kicks off with the World Challenge Touring Car race, which was due to have James Clay start his No. 36 BimmerWorld GearWrench BMW 328i from his first-career pole position, but a wrong call on the post-qualifying coin toss inverted the top five, putting teammate Nick Esayian’s No. 34 BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i at the top of the grid. On the standing start, the third BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i of Seth Thomas gets a great launch, allowing him to line up behind Esayian. While Thomas looks for an opportunity to take the lead from his teammate, fifth-starting Clay has his hands full with the No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Red Line Oil Acura TSX of Kuno Wittmer and the No. 75 MAZDASPEED/StopTech/ProParts MAZDA6 of Eric Foss. Set the TV to SPEED to see if Thomas or Esayian crosses the finish line first and if Clay can come through to complete the team’s first podium sweep.

Next up, it’s the World Challenge GT race, with GT Championship leader Brandon Davis starting up front in his No. 10 Applied Computer Solutions Ford Mustang GT. Though Davis did not qualify in the top spot, an incorrect call on the post-qualifying coin toss by pole winner Randy Pobst, inverted the top five on the grid. As the start lights flash off, Pobst’s teammate, Andy Pilgrim, gets the launch of a lifetime in his No. 8 K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 to rocket from fourth to first. Davis was able to slot into second, but soon had a hard-charging Eric Curran in his mirrors. With his thoughts on keeping his Championship lead secure, Davis doesn’t give Curran’s No. 30 Whelen Engineering Corvette much trouble and Curran sets off in chase of Pilgrim. Tune into SPEED to see if Curran has the pace to catch Pilgrim.